Yesterday was a real good news/bad news day.
Good news: The weather was fine. A little overcast and cool, but great weather for kickbiking without overheating.
Bad news: I had to go into Tokyo to check out a local district for one of my clients.
Good news: I was able to ride (kick) my kickbike up to the local station to catch the train into the city.
Bad news: I spent about five hours walking around the streets. I really missed my kickbike, and committed to bringing with me the next time a similar assignment comes up. After all that walking on the hard pavement, my feet and joints were aching. I wasn't sure I would be able to manage kicking back home from the station.
Good news: Kicking turned out to be a pleasure rather than a pain. It uses muscles in a very different way. The gentle stretching and yoga-like exercise of kicking loosened up my joints and worked out a lot of the tightness I had accumulated during the day.
Bad news: Just a few blocks from home, when I tried to go down a sidewalk curb, the frame of my Kickbike grounded out. It has happened on rare occasions before, and is usually no big problem. Unfortunately this time I had approached the curb from an angle. When the frame impacted the curb edge, my front wheel was momentarily out of contact with the ground, but momentum carried me forward anyway. In a fraction of a second I was down on the pavement nursing a surprisingly minor case of road rash.
Good news: Since I was already much closer to the ground than riding a bicycle, it was easy to cushion my fall. With a little more luck I probably would have been able to just walk through the crash and never hit the ground. As it was, I went down easily, rolled, and sustained very minor scrapes and no bruising.
Bad news: The front forks and handlebars on my Kickbike rotated over 180 degrees during the accident. That forced the front brake assembly under the frame, and in doing that, it managed to distort my front wheel.
Good news: It was easy to put the front wheel, forks, and handlebars back into position. I had to straighten the front brake assembly where it was rubbing on the wheel and tire, but in a minute or two the Kickbike was back in ridable condition. I gathered up my belongings, and kicked back home as if nothing had ever happened.
Bad news: Although my Kickbike is ridable, the front wheel definitely needs to be straightened by a professional. A trip to the local bicycle shop is definitely in order. But, since most of the shops are only open during the day while I'm busy working, that wheel probably won't make it to the shop until next Saturday at the earliest.
Good news: The trip to the bicycle shop will give me a chance to pick up one of the Japanese bicycle bags to fit my Kickbike. I have the official Kickbike bag - and I'm sure it will be great for taking my Kickbike on the airplane or other long trips, but it's just too nice, clean, and pretty to use for everyday kicking around. I want to pick up something that is cheap enough that I won't mind if it gets dirty or accidentally torn.
More good news: It's Monday here already, and I really feel the effects of yesterdays extended exercise. I mean that in a totally positive sense. I'm extremely surprised to find that I don't have a lot of aches and pains. My feet are a little sore, and I can tell that my joints got more exercise than they normally do. Still, I feel ready to go. If I had to do the same course again today, I'm sure I could manage it with no problem.
The best news: I'm wearing a suit today that I haven't been able to fit into for the past three-plus years. And, it fits well.
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